Fallout has been receiving praise left and right ever since the first episode premiered. Based on the successful video game of the same name, it is already a critically acclaimed show. Only days after its release, there have been numerous fans acknowledging every aspect including the acting. Understanding adaptations and perfecting them leads to a quality final product.
In the past, the response to games being adapted, especially into live-action, has been almost bittersweet. With the exception of The Last of Us, Detective Pikachu, and a few more, the response hasn’t been as great as one would hope. Fallout is here to break that cycle.
Adapting darker tones takes a certain level of indulgence in the dark and gloomy as well. Ella Purnell’s series may have taken that too far though.
Trigger Warning: This article contains sensitive topics such as animal cruelty. Reader’s discretion is advised.
Fallout Episode 2 Does the Unthinkable
Being set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world, Fallout is a game filled with only darkness. What comes after that darkness to balance the story is humor. In any dystopian novel or setting, humor acts as a balance to life, a link to humanity, and the glue to hope. Fallout is no different in this category. However, there was something so dark in the second episode that no amount of humor could ever balance it out.
“I didn’t protest, I just recall being like ‘Are we f*cking doing this?’ and then we’re there on set building a beautiful, beautiful puppy replica,” he added. “It literally had a heartbeat and could breathe, and then we’re just chucking it in the incinerator and I was just like ‘I’ve done some dark shit, that definitely is the darkest.'”
Speaking with Windows Central, series creator Graham Wagner explained exactly why. The second episode of the show has an opening sequence that can easily scar anyone. The sequence opens with a group of scientists performing unethical experiments, that too on animals. It is shown that a puppy was thrown off into the furnace without a second thought.
Although the puppy wasn’t real, they added little details to it that made it seem real. From the heartbeat to the ability to breathe, that prop was far too close to a real puppy than anything.
Rules of Gruesome Terror
The setting of a project, whether it is a piece of literature or media, sets the foundation of how deep the thematic concerns would be. A comedic setting would often resort to satire. While an action or thriller would focus more on the fight sequences. Works that dwell in the darkness need to find a middle ground. Dark humor, action, and emotions are all combined into one.
There are times when certain scenes are shown for shock factor. Other times, they can be deemed as a necessary evil. When it comes to writing villains, there are lines drawn by fans about what makes them redeemable or likable villains to plain bad. A comparison of the same can be done with Homelander and Thanos.
Darkness and the balance of humor depict the reality of a dying world. Fallout chose to do the same with perhaps the worst possible depiction. Forgivable or not, there is no denying that such people might exist in a world that ravaged by horrors.
